Richland, Oregon

I have people ask me why I like Eastern Oregon so much. I guess it is simply the immense expanse of space. It invokes a sublime emotion in me. In the day-to-day of city living I constantly experience the close-in intimate surroundings. In Eastern Oregon an expanse of horizon opens out, and somehow, with the diminishment of my own ego, my consciousness expands to an experience of the sublime.

Richland, Oregon, named for the fertility of the surrounding soil, is nestled into a valley where the Powder River flows and the Wallowa Mountains are its backdrop. The Brownlee Reservoir backs water up to Richland. The population sign on Highway 86 says 175 folks call Richland their home.

But, alas, others have left, leaving behind once loved farm houses like the one below. What stories do you think this home could tell? How many children have lived inside her walls? Did a couple farm the land, raise their children, and then die? Abandonment... this home stands as a monument to a harder and maybe richer life in a time long past. Now, only the people of Richland may be able to tell its story.